Bernhard Kreinz
Engineer since the acoustic coupler. Taught the web before it was the web. Built a social network before Facebook. Wrote a cyber threat taxonomy because none existed.
Personal opinions. Not related to any actual or former employer.
Essays & analysis
Paradigms, taxonomies and the failure modes of consensus in cybersecurity — written in English and German.
Who
Since the first publication, my focus has been on understanding and applying technologies in the context of the internet: infrastructure, engineering, software development and knowledge transfer.
The tools change. The mission doesn’t: knowledge is good — being able to apply it is better.
“The transfer of allegiance from paradigm to paradigm is a conversion experience that cannot be forced.” — Thomas Kuhn (attributed)
Built to last
A threat taxonomy, a social network before the platform era, and the course material that taught the web’s protocols.
Framework · author · since 2024
The 10 Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters: every cyber attack classified by its initial cause, the generic vulnerability being exploited, not by its effects. Ten mutually exclusive clusters, derived from axioms by logical deduction.
It started here as White Paper v1.4. It landed at tlctc.net, where the framework is published and maintained today.
Conceived 1994 · launched 2005 · still running
One of the first social-network prototypes, conceived in 1994 — human connectivity before the platform era. “Who’s coming? Who’s not? Yes, I was here before Facebook, but without the entrepreneurship.”
Today the platform keeps the whole technology stack in active duty: applied knowledge over theory.
Teaching · SIZ webmaster courses · 1998–2000
The original course documents that taught the protocols behind the web — written for the SIZ webmaster courses and still readable today.
Sound
Engineering humour set to music: blues, rock, rap and pop about standards chaos — plus podcasts and talks on threat clusters and attack velocity.
Films
Animations and music videos about standards, threat clusters and how to think a problem through.
Pictures
Rants, AI art, merchandise and diagrams — the pictures that went along with the arguments.